Emergent Strategies for Strength Development
Using data at the meso-cycle/block level.
This is where the fun begins. A few months of training data and a couple valid assumptions can contain multiple insights to aid in future training programming for an individual. Here is an example block analysis for my own training data. I’ll focus on the three main movements to keep it simple — the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift.
Potential insights:
1.) natural “peak” occurs approximately 4-5 weeks into the block across these lifts.
2.) The stall/decrease may have occurred for one of two reasons (most likely)
too much volume –> need to drop volume for a week or two and recover. (I tried this, and it didn’t work)
too little volume –> not enough of a stimulus, increase volume. (Since option 1 didn’t work, I tried this in the subsequent block)
Leading into the next block, I decided to increase the sets/week and decrease intensity accordingly. In the 3rd block, I tried to keep most variables similar to the second, except I “front loaded” volume on the squat (performed most of the high volume weeks in the first portion of the block). I also increased the bench volume. Let’s see the results of adjusting the training parameters in a meta-block review. I’ll examine the only the squat for the sake of brevity…
Using data at the meta-block level
The greatest variables to check are volume and intensity, followed by frequency (provided exercise selection is relatively specific). We look at the following metrics
- e1rm over time for each exercise
- weekly volume over time in terms of sets and reps by exercise grouping (only including the squat variants to keep the example minimal)
- average weekly intensity as a proportion of the estimated one rep max (only including the squat variants to keep the example minimal)
insights from comparing blocks 1 to 2 and 3…
- Block 1 had insufficient volume and there was no need to keep intensity so high.
Insights from comparing blocks 2 and 3…
- Both blocks were very successful (both projected e1rms increase by ~30 lbs).
- Block 3 was successful AND predictable in that I hit the highest e1rm of the program on the exact day I planned to do so. The “peak” was precise.
- Sets per week were fairly similar (just shift block 3 two weeks to the right and they line up almost perfectly… this was by design)
- intensity stayed above its average for most weeks in block 2, while block 3 stayed below its average for most weeks.
- I managed to successfully slightly increase volume and intensity over the whole of the block while recovering adequately in block 3.
Going forward…
- Be patient, wait until the last few weeks and then spike intensity sharply.
- It works well when volume & reps remain higher “most the time”, and intensity remains lower until it’s time for the final peak. This might be a hint to stay at lower intensity ranges for a longer period of time in the future, or attempt to drop the intensity even further and have it climb from 72 percent unstead of from 77 percent.
- It’s okay to keep squatting into the “max-out” week. I actually managed to perform better on the final week with a less severe drop in volume.
- 1 experiment: try to keep the same avg intensity,reps, and sets per week, but instead of front-loading volume (high week to week variance, low within the week variance), try to increase the within week variance and decrease week to week variance.